From seed to grain

From seed to grain

The biggest concern in the rural areas of Afghanistan is whether there will be enough food to eat for today, tomorrow and in the next winter.

You don’t need to be a major landowner to grow food – everybody has a vegetable garden, be it smaller or larger. With great effort food supplies are gathered throughout the summer and autumn season to provide for the winter. Laghmani is located in the Shomali plains, a fertile area with high water levels. A system of irrigation canals brings water from the river Panshir to the fields and gardens.

Plentiful harvests are essential to survival – this awareness is often reflected in embroideries depicting rows of seedlings breaking though the soil, growing sprouts with the first emerging leaves and stems rising from the ground.

I have put together a series of thirty embroidered images, some figurative, others geometrical pattern, illustrating the progression from seed to grain.